Fluorinated compounds and compositions are widely used as lubricants, solvents, plasticisers, waxes, refrigerants, and as monomers for polymer production. While it is theoretically possible to efficiently produce many useful fluorinated materials by direct fluorination, most fluorinated materials are produced by indirect processes which circumvent the use of elemental fluorine. Because direct fluorination reactions are highly exothermic, appropriate measures must be taken to control the reaction to enable the production of the desired products in high yield.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,475, incorporated herein by reference, discloses an efficient and versatile direct fluorination method and apparatus. In this process, an aerosol containing the material to be fluorinated is flowed through a reaction zone where it is contacted with elemental fluorine under conditions such that fluorination occurs. While this process for direct fluorination enables good control of the stoichiometry to produce a desired product mix, there are some practical difficulties encountered in adjusting the quantities of reactants entering the fluorination reactor and product yields are often less than optimum.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved aerosol direct fluorination apparatus.
It is a further object to provide an aerosol direct fluorination apparatus particularly well-suited for materials which can be vaporized and which is amenable to easy adjustment of the quantities of reactants.
It is another object to provide an aerosol direct fluorination apparatus which has the capability for high product yields.